Something you should know

If you are anxious to port your Windows Phone application using the Bing API, you should know that they will be discontinued on August 1, 2012. At that time, they will be ported from Bing to the Azure Data Marketplace. We’ll talk about that in a later article.

First, get a key

So, herein lies the rub. If you are not already using the Bing API v2.0 then you cannot get a new developer token. This is important because it is about to be discontinued.

However, in an effort to facilitate developers porting their Windows Phone applications using the Bing API over to Metro applications, I hope this gives you a head start.

Second: copy my BingV2Helper

Another in a series of helpers, the Bing V1 Helper makes the REST call for you and deserializes the resulting JSON into CLR classes for you. Yelp, it’s that easy. My helper can get you started, you can extend it. Or just learn from what I have done.

Here’s Helper’s API looks like this:

Constructor(s)

Method(s)

SearchAsync(query, type);

Example:var _Results = SearchAsync(“coffee”, SearchTypes.Web);

I don’t want to oversimplify it, but the API is simple to begin with. The helper is meant to do the hard work for you so you can add it to your projects easily and just start using. If you are already using the Bing API, then this will be a nice treat for you.

Conclusion

It is important that you remember that this API will not live forever. In fact, it will be discontinued August 1, 2012. At that time you should migrate to the Azure Data Marketplace’s Bing API. It is no longer free, but there is a free tier so you can still use it in your applications.

Hey! I'm Jerry Nixon, a Microsoft Engineer in Colorado. If you are into development, you are at the right place. I blog, I teach, and speak; should you see me out somewhere, say hi! Thanks for your visit.